Death toll rises to 62 in Qingdao pipeline blast

QINGDAO - The death toll from an oil pipeline blast on November 22 in Qingdao city of East China's Shandong province rose to 62 as of Tuesday morning, as body of the last missing person was retrieved on Monday, the rescue headquarters said.

As of Tuesday, 136 people were hospitalized and 14 were discharged from hospital earlier, the headquarters said.

Initial reports put the death toll at 55 and the number of missing at 9. Two victims had been mistakenly counted as missing, the police said.

At 3 am on November 22, crude oil began leaking from the underground pipeline operated by Sinopec in Qingdao's Huangdao district.

The spill then flowed into the city's sewage network, which empties into the Jiaozhou Bay. Explosions ripped through residential and commercial roads in Huangdao at around 10:30 am while workers were clearing the spill.

The site of a pipeline explosion in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, Nov 22, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

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